Mind's Eye Interactive

Why Your Store Can Succeed On The Internet

admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Internet gives your store advantages that a physical store does not have. Through the Internet, you can reach customers worldwide, process transactions quickly, do business at any time, and greatly reduce start-up and overhead costs. Additionally, online stores are the best option for marketing and selling online applications and services that consumers are unlikely to buy at physical store locations. By giving your customers the convenience and affordable prices available through an online store, you will develop repeat customers and a quickly growing business.

The greatest advantage of having an online store is the savings. To start, you will need an Internet connection, website hosting, a domain name, and perhaps a web designer. These are all very inexpensive compared to buying or renting a physical store. Once your website is completed, and your online payment system functioning, customers can make purchases without the assistance of any employees. You can also sell to customers worldwide with little effort. Advertising can be done through inexpensive means such as search engines and social networks. The greatest investment you will have to make is your time. If you are willing to put in the long hours and do the work of getting your online store running, your business will be successfully functioning in very little time.

What Advancements In Technology Means For Your Store

admin — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Advancements in technology can help people in many ways. They change the way we communicate, the way we process orders, and even how we get feedback from our consumers. The entire idea behind these advancements is to simplify a given task. By using a modern technological approach we can save time in nearly everything we do.

If you consider the operations of a typical e-commerce website, you can easily see how technology supports it. They use databases for storing product inventories digitally. Online chat features allow communication with consumers in real time. We can even collect browsing data from our clients to serve them better, while gaining important data about our demographic. Tweaking any of these applications can greatly increase efficiency, and ultimately, revenue.

Technology has such a strong presence in our lives for a reason. It allows us to spend more time on the important aspects of our work, while knowing that the tedious details are being taken care of. With all the new advancements on the horizon, it is an exciting time to be involved in e-commerce. If we embrace the technology now, we will be even more prepared for the next round of advancements. After all, they are just around the corner.

Why E-Commerce Shopping Carts Are So Advanced

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

E-commerce has only forward to go in terms of electronic innovation. It is also only limited by its business integration.

While many shopping carts offer the minimum in terms of credit card processing, others are advancing in terms of the mainstream business process; which can include automated shipping reminders, group batch collections, client data representation and instant message capabilities. Advances coming in tune to the customer’s business needs.

This technology advance has answered, among things for customers, security concerns, customer question timing and the reduced time between leads. For businesses, this has provided a sense of amplified portrayal; customers believing the company more competent for their ability to provide E-commerce solutions. In short, e-commerce advances because it is friendlier for customers, which brings in more money for the shopping cart owner.

Customers as of late have even begun to ridicule businesses who have failed to deliver on this ingenuity. This is because people see it as their right, as business customers, to receive timely help and support. If your business enterprise can’t provide it, customers are going to look for the person who can.

Luckily for businesses, e-commerce has continued to advance in tune to the needs of the customer.

Create eye-popping web presentations

www.mindseyeinteractive.com — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

PowerPoint is so 2007. The new big thing in presentations, whether it’s for a class, a business meeting, or a lecture to your child on why they can’t borrow the car Friday night, is web presentations. These innovative and attractive shows can be created on sites like Prezi.com, Sliderocket.com, and Metoshow.com. For brevity’s sake, we’ll use Prezi.com as an example.One benefit of web presentations is their ease of use. You can host your presentation on the web site itself. Of course, this has obvious benefits for college students who may roll out of bed and head to class on presentation day without thinking to grab their flash drive. For professional presenters, though, it not only means that not only can you simply show up, log on, and access your show, but that in many cases you can also share the presentation with other clients online. For businesses that often network with clients or branches in other locations, this feature’s rewards are undeniable. In Prezi’s free-to-use model, you can share your shows (also known as “prezis”) online or download them for future use. You can also choose to pay more to make your prezi private, or to create a prezi offline in areas without wireless internet access.Another attractive feature of web presentations is their visual appeal. Even the most animated slideshow presentations still follow a fairly regular pattern, in which one slide follows another follows another follows another, and so onad nauseam. Prezi stands out even from most of its web presentation brethren in that the entire show takes place on a single slide, or canvas. Over the course of the show, the screen zips from spot to spot, zooming in to emphasize particular points. All of this can be controlled by the user. While it sounds confusing, it’s actually quite intuitive, and looks great. You can check out Prezi examples online at prezi.com. Just be prepared to find your new favorite presentation outlet.

Webinars are the best -nars

www.mindseyeinteractive.com — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:00:13 +0000

In the film Up in the Air, George Clooney’s character runs into a problem: his life of traveling is about to be cut short by the introduction of web-conferencing into his company. However, this reaction is an exception: most people are enthusiastic at the thought of being able to conduct interviews, online seminars (“webinars”), and meetings over the internet. After all, this means less work time spent traveling, less cost to the company, and less stress overall.There are a multitude of companies in the web-conferencing business, from Adobe to Zoho. The decision as to which one to choose comes down mainly to the needs and size of your company. For example, Zoho Meeting (part of the Zoho Office Suite) is a free program which supports ActiveX, Flash, and Java. However, the meeting creator has to be using Microsoft Windowsthose “attending” the meeting can use any operating system, though.Currently, there are three different models of web conferencing, including hosting, software, and hardware. Hosting services don’t require the purchase of any software, and are offered with pricing plans generally based on the number of attendees expected at each meeting. GoToMeeting has plans ranging from 49 a month for 15 attendees to 499 for 1,000 attendees.Software-based models can be freeware, such as the Zoho option, or offered with different plans, such as Adobe’s Connect. Connect can be purchased for a lifetime fee from a specialist, or for a monthly fee if purchased onlinehowever, the online product does not include Pro Training, Pro Events, or Pro Webcast capabilities.Hardware- or appliance-based model costs differ based on the company, as they are set up on an individual basis. Other names include “in-house” and “on-premise” web conferencing. Speaking of names, if you’re wondering what a “webinar” is specifically, it refers to a type of one-way web-conferencing used for presentation or training purposes.

Web-based training spins a strong foundation for your company

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:00:46 +0000

Since the emergence of the world-wide Internet, managers have been interested in the possibilities of this new medium for effectively teaching new skills to their employees without having to rely on human trainers. William Horton’s Designing Web-Based Training, published in 2000 at the very beginning of the trend, helped define the practice and a system of guidelines and standards to go along with it. Today, the internet’s capability for training and testing is used not only by employers, but also by educational facilities.Web-based training (WBT) is most effective when it can lead a user through a complex, non-physical procedure. For example, while most people probably wouldn’t want brain surgeons practicing on a virtual patient (or at least not for very long), it’s very easy for WBT to walk a user through a new type of software, or a complex mathematical process. While it may seem like WBT simply mimics reading through a handbook or guide, the electronic component allows trainers to include animations and other visual examples that would fall flat in 2Dpun intended. The fact that the material can be accessed online rather than via CD-ROM can also help save money on production, although it can still be expensive to create a very complex WBT platform.Many companies contract out the development of their WBT initiatives to qualified developers. Metrick Training is one such developer. According to their website, they “provide e-learning based on Learning Management principles,” including “full tracking and reporting.” Their front page illustrates an example of another type of web-based traininga video of an actual trainer, which allows that trainer to reach many people at the same time. This saves on both time and money. WBT also standardizes training for your employees, allowing you to set the level of results you want to achieve.

Pixel Productions Inc. combines multiple design solutions

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:00:18 +0000

For companies that want a professional and attractive website, but don’t have the resources to devote to it, contracting to a web site design company is a popular solution. Many companies are specialists in one aspect of web site creation, whether its site design, marketing, graphic design, or branding. Pixel Productions Inc. is an example of a company that’s a recognized leader in all four areas.Pixel Productions brings their experience from a number of offline endeavors, including packaging design for food and wine products, board games, and branding campaigns for companies from Caregiver Services to Me Spa. Online, these skills translate into a web site that not only follows best practices and industry standards guidelines, but also conveys the spirit and personality of your company. As part of their branding service, they may even offer suggestions on how to make your company’s personality morepersonable.You can contact Pixel Productions with a description of your project needs and timeline via phone or their website, after which they will offer a quote. If acceptable, they will bring their considerable skills to bear on your website project, starting in the site design. Depending on whether your company is based around e-commerce, business, social networking, social media, or something entirely original, Pixel Productions will tailor a unique and copyrighted design for your site. Hiring a professional developer is important in order to create an easily-navigated online experience for your users, since prospective customers will have only so much patience if they can’t immediately find what they’re looking for.Marketing, graphic design, and design & brand identity are the three other services Pixel Productions offers. Their marketing aspect includes such modern industry buzzwords as “search engine optimization” and “link building.” These affect how high your site appears in Google (and other search engine) rankings, which can be either a huge advantage or a difficult obstacle for your site. Go to http://www.pixelproductionsinc.com/ for more information, and to get started today. They’re not the only company you can head to for your website design needs, but they’re definitely one worth a look.

Keeping up with web marketing

admin — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:00:34 +0000

The internet is unrivalled in its potential to reach a large amount of consumers at a minimum cost. This makes it highly attractive to companies looking to stay current with changing customer trends and preferences while also marketing their own product. Understandably, a large web marketing industry has grown up, in which companies contract to other developers to create exciting new material.These developers have some new tools at their disposal when it comes to reaching users. One of these is geo-marketing, in which internet advertisements are tailored to the specific location of the user. This can be as broad as the user’s country to as specific as the county. This type of web-marketing lends itself well to another new development in web-marketing: social media. Foursquare, the social network which tracks its users movements and awards badges and titles based on location, has deals with a number of large companies already, and that number will only grow. Bravo offered special badges and sweepstakes to users who went to locations featured in their shows, while Tasti D-Lite offered extra points on their TreatCards to users who connected to their Foursquare accounts.One of the reasons internet marketing is so prominent (and the reason you see so many ads as you surf the web) is the ability to purchase advertising based on how many people it reaches. “Pay per impression” refers to each time the advertisement loads, while “pay per click,” “pay per play,” and “pay per action” each refer to more specific types of counts.Blueliner is just one example of an internet-marketing company. Based out of New York, they offer internet marketing, online advertising, email marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, analytics, and more to their customers. These services and more are part of the “7 Pillars of Marketing,” a business philosophy which they use to construct specialized campaigns for each of their clients. Internet marketing isn’t going anywhere anytime soonisn’t it time your company took advantage of it?

Interactive television, past, present, and future

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:44:48 +0000

How do you define “interactive television”? Even more difficult, how do you do so in such a way that separates theoretical or upcoming technology like t-commerce (being able to instantly buy a product being advertised) from more obvious and traditional forms of interaction, like changing channels or lowering the volume? This is the question facing many companies today as they try to bring television watching into the 21^st century?One way in which providers are defining interactivity is by degree, from high to low. In the highest level of interactivity, viewers can actually affect the events onscreen. One example is the 2006-2007 Finnish television show Accidental Lovers, in which viewers sent text messages which determined the emotions of the main characters. Obviously, interactive television can include other mediums of communication, like a phone. This type of interactivity dates back to even the early 1990s, when the Danish show Hugo premiereda television video game which viewers controlled by phone.However, much of the potential of interactive television still remains untapped. Even the simple act of watching television could be changed by Panasonic’s Life Wall, a prototype technology which uses face recognition technology to project a screen on the wall that follows the viewer around a room. Types of interactivity which currently require a computer are soon expected to be included in the television set itself, such as the previously-mentioned t-commerce as well as websites and games that are related to live broadcasts.ActiveVideo Networks is one company which is currently developing “cloud-based” interactive television. Similar to “cloud computing,” this would allow developers to store information in a cloud which could be personalized to each viewer. In February, the company offered an interactive channel for the 2010 Winter Olympics, featuring a mosaic of video images through which users could access whatever specific information they wanted. This technology is changing all the time, and it will be exciting to see where it leads next.